SECTOR 1 Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country meets only a few aspects of indicator 3 Country meets some aspects of indicator 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator Average score: 3.9 (2009: 3.4) 1.8 Public information is easily accessible, guaranteed by law, to all citizens. The preamble of the Constitution guarantees access to public information since it upholds the separation of powers and “transparency in the way public affairs are conducted.” Moreover, development partners have worked hard to improve the general public’s access to public information. The panellists took note of the fact that the citizen journalist just like the citizen, in effect, does not really have the skill to access such information. Most of the time, a citizen would not know where to obtain this information. The members of the panel gather that the General Civil Service Regulations, which impose a duty of confidentiality, have always contributed to the cover-up of big scandals or public events that inconvenienced the authorities. The panellists recalled the hostage-taking of a minister between 1987 and 1988 – a story that received no coverage at all until the day of his release – or another point in case, the embarrassing toxic waste scandal (2009) partly suppressed in the public media. The waste had arrived on board of a boat in the harbour of Abidjan and when the scandal broke, public media were rather restrained in their approach. As to general, public information: it is selective and partial. To make a case in point, the panellists made reference to the coverage of the public service strikes. Public media tend to put forward the point of view of the administration to the detriment of the strikers’ position. Similarly, the panel underlined the fact that the Ministry of Economy and Finance communicates its provisional budget but never circulates its annual balance sheets in the public media. 76 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER COTE D’IVOIRE 2012